F1 25: 2026 Season Pack

As a fan of the sport and the games, it felt a bit sad that 2026 would be the first year in a long time without a brand-new Formula 1 game. No, instead, EA and Codemasters decided to bundle the new cars, rules, tracks, and drivers into a major update—a so-called Season Pack—and sell it at a discounted price.

A smart decision? Well, that depends on how you look at it. F1 hasn't been a major cash cow, and the games from recent years have, unfortunately, sold rather poorly. It might seem a bit odd, considering that the sport is more popular than it's ever been, thanks in large part to Netflix and Drive to Survive, but also thanks to Liberty Media and their relentless push for closer contact between fans and F1 stars.

So it's understandable that they're now taking a more cautious approach, even if it's a bit disappointing. After all, the sport has undergone one of the biggest changes in many years with the new rules, and while there's plenty to appreciate about the 2026 Season Pack, it's hard to shake the feeling that it mostly comes across as an expensive update for a one-year-old game.

Sure, you do notice some differences. Behind the wheel, the F1 cars feel a bit livelier, and new features like Overtake Mode create some interesting strategic possibilities. All the teams have also been updated, and the two new ones (Audi and Cadillac) are of course represented, as is the new Madrid circuit, which adds a lovely touch of freshness. But that's about where it ends.

Because even though Codemasters has done a good job here, everything also feels so hopelessly predictable and, in all honesty, pretty boring. There are no new game modes or major changes beyond what's already been mentioned, and in a way, this is just last year's F1 game with a fresh coat of paint and a new finish. The career mode is pretty much the same, with an updated starting grid and calendar, but the structure remains unchanged. So if I'm being a bit harsh here, it feels more like a "car pack" than anything else, an evolution rather than a revolution, and I had hoped for significantly more than this. Sure, the physics have been tweaked and the rules implemented, but much of the content is familiar.

It's therefore also difficult to justify the rather steep price tag of £22, and in all honesty, this should have been a free update and not a premium product. Those who, like yours truly, diligently follow the sport year-round will find joy in the new (albeit few) changes. The two new teams, the new rules, the cars, and the slightly altered feel do, after all, give the package a certain raison d'être. But for those who aren't already die-hard F1 fans, it's far harder to recommend.

F1 25: 2026 Season Pack is competent, well-made, and at times genuinely entertaining, just like the base game. The platform is, after all, a very stable one. It's safe and a bit boring, but stable. At the same time, it suffers from the fact that the content feels—in all honesty—pretty lacklustre, especially during such a transformative time for the sport when so much has changed.

The result is therefore also rather odd. It certainly succeeds in capturing the feel of the new generation of cars, but beyond that, there's very little new to be found here. F1 25: 2026 Season Pack thus feels more like an afterthought and completely lacks that spark and "wow" factor that could make it an obvious purchase for everyone. Instead, we're left with what mostly feels like a lame attempt to squeeze money out of the most dedicated fans.